With the increase of gambling at gaming venues has come increased competition between gaming venues to obtain a larger share of the total gambling spend. Gaming venue operators have therefore continuously looked for new variations and types of games in order to attract both new and return customers to their venues.
In response to this need, suppliers of gaming devices and systems have attempted to provide the sought after variety. There has been a trend in recent years to provide increasing variations in the types of games offered on gaming machines and to provide games with more complex game play or options. Variation in the way that the games operate and are controlled requires the provision of different user interfaces for different games.
In addition, the variation in the user interface between games is a problem when multiple games are offered on a single gaming machine. This problem becomes even more apparent if the gaming apparatus is connected to a network and games can be downloaded from a game server, or played remotely, because potentially thousands of games could be available to be played at the gaming apparatus.
One solution to the problem of different games requiring a different user interface is to implement the user interface as a touch screen. When a touch screen is used, different games can display different indicia to represent the touch pads.
One problem with touch screens is that they are often not as comfortable or easy to use as traditional push buttons. Another problem is that touch screens to date are generally not as reliable as physical push buttons and a player may experience frustration if a touch screen does not register all touches of the screen. In addition, there may be more probability of a player inadvertently touching an incorrect button when using a touch screen in comparison to when physical buttons are used, which for some games may lead to the player wagering an amount that they did not wish to risk. This may lead to the player experiencing frustration and bad will towards the gaming machine operator. A still further problem with touch screens is that they are relatively expensive to replace upon failure.